Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of extending access to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme to all those affected by the collapse of the Blackmore Bond plc.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government considers it is important that there are appropriate mechanisms in place to ensure the financial services regulators are accountable for all aspects of their performance.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is responsible for ensuring consumer protection for a broad range of financial services products and HM Treasury works closely with the FCA to maintain a strong and safe financial system. However, the FCA does not have power to investigate a firm that is unauthorised and not carrying out any regulated activities.
Blackmore Bond Plc was not authorised by the FCA and the sale of the ‘mini-bond’ product it offered was not an activity regulated by the FCA. The Government therefore has no plans to establish a judge-led inquiry into the FCA’s handling of the collapse of Blackmore Bond plc.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential benefits of extending VAT relief for home disability adaptions to self-installed adaptions when a recognised need for the home modifications has been identified by an individual's professional support team.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
VAT has been designed as a broad-based tax on consumption, and the twenty per cent standard rate applies to the vast majority of goods and services. While there are exceptions to the standard rate, these have always been strictly limited by both legal and fiscal considerations.
One such exception is the VAT relief for items which have been designed solely for use by a disabled person, which benefit from a VAT zero-rate. Self-installation of home modifications which meet this criteria will benefit from the relief, however any general purpose items will be subject to VAT at the standard rate. This boundary ensures that goods and services which are objectively the same do not have different VAT treatments, enabling HMRC and businesses to determine with confidence what is, and is not, eligible for VAT relief.
Given this, although the Government keeps all taxes under review, there are no plans to change the VAT treatment of self-installed home adaptations
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to require that assets which (a) are held by and (b) have been transferred (i) to, (ii) from and (iii) within a trust must always have a clearly defined beneficial owner.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises that the vast majority of trusts are set up for legitimate reasons. However, there is also a risk that trusts can be used to conceal the beneficial ownership of assets which can facilitate money laundering.
The Trust Registration Service (TRS) is a register of the beneficial ownership of trusts. First set up in 2017, new rules introduced in 2020 extended the scope of the TRS to UK and some non-UK trusts, with some specific exclusions, regardless of whether or not the trust is liable to pay any tax. Trustees of UK resident express trusts were required to register their trusts with the TRS by September 2022, and this information can be made available to law enforcement and other relevant parties on a case-specific basis.
The UK continues to monitor risks associated with trusts: from 16 December 2022, there are additional restrictions on providing trust services to or for the benefit of designated persons and persons connected with Russia. Providing trust services ‘for the benefit of’ a person includes where the person is a beneficiary, is a potential beneficiary, or may be reasonably expected to obtain a significant financial benefit from the trust or similar arrangement. These prohibitions support wider government aims for sharpening sanctions and closing loopholes which could be used to avoid sanctions.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had recent discussions with HM Revenue and Customs on estimates of how many people in Scotland are affected by the loan charge.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Following the Independent Loan Charge Review, HMRC estimates that around 9,500 individuals will be removed from the scope of the Loan Charge. This analysis is not broken down by location.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department have made with HMRC on the number of people in Scotland that have reached settlements for breaches of IR35 rules.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
For compliance activity relating to the off-payroll working rules, HMRC does not maintain records that provide a breakdown by specific regions or nations of the UK.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will allocate additional resources to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation to ensure that sanctions linked to the war in Ukraine can be fully enforced as the number of individuals and organisations on the sanctions list increases.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In Jan-22, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) had 42.15 active staff. OFSI is expecting to at least double in size over the next financial year to around 100 staff. These roles will be at all levels of the organisation across both London and Darlington.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the turnover threshold for small business VAT in the context of rising levels of inflation.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government recognises that accounting for VAT can be a burden on small businesses. This is why, at £85,000, the UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU Member State and the second highest in the OECD. This keeps the majority of UK businesses out of VAT altogether.
Views on the VAT registration threshold are divided and the case for change has been regularly reviewed over the years. While some businesses have argued that a higher threshold would reduce administrative and financial burdens, others contend that a lower threshold would provide a fairer competitive environment.
In 2018, the Government consulted on how the design of the VAT registration threshold could better incentivise growth. However, there was no clear option for reform.
It was announced at Autumn Budget 2022 that the VAT threshold will be maintained at its current level of £85,000 until 31 March 2026.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department has taken to ensure financial service sector organisations knowingly involved in the facilitation or purchase of agricultural products illegally looted from Russian occupied areas of Ukraine cannot (a) obtain financing, (b) obtain services, (c) trade and operate within the UK and (b) what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the current enforcement system in preventing the looting of agricultural materials from Ukraine.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We stand united with our international partners in the face of Russian aggression. In lockstep with our allies, we have introduced the largest and most severe economic sanctions that Russia has ever faced to cripple Putin’s war machine. This includes restricting access to finance with asset freezes on Russia’s major banks, including banks active in occupied Ukrainian territory. We have also prohibited the import of all goods that come from non-government controlled Ukrainian territory in Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk.
It is a criminal offence to contravene sanctions, as well as to enable or facilitate a contravention of, or to circumvent them. The Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) is responsible for monitoring and compliance with financial sanctions and for assessing suspected breaches. It also has the power to impose monetary penalties for breaches of financial sanctions and to refer cases to law enforcement agencies for investigation and potential prosecution. HMRC is responsible for enforcement of UK Trade Sanctions and Strategic Export control working closely with Border Force. HMRC has implemented a number of measures which aim to prevent the exportation and importation of restricted goods from or to the UK and has a range of enforcement options.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the number of promoters and operators of schemes now subject to the loan charge have been prosecuted for promoting and operating those schemes.
Answered by Richard Fuller
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer that was given on 3 November 2021 to the Question UIN 62867
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of an independent inquiry into the Loan Charge.
Answered by Richard Fuller
The 2019 Independent Loan Charge Review drew upon all the available evidence and expert advice to consider the appropriateness of the Loan Charge policy, and its impact on individuals, reflecting the main concerns that had been raised by MPs and campaigners. The Government accepted all but one of the twenty recommendations in the review.
While there are no plans for a further independent review, the Government continues to look carefully at this issue to ensure that we provide taxpayers with all the support they need.